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'Perhaps humankind can't bear too much reality, but neither can it bear too much unreality, too much abuse of the truth.' (Saul Bellow)

'448 OMAR KHAYYÁM Omar had a personality; I, for better or worse, have none. In an hour I’ll have strayed from what I am at this moment; tomorrow I’ll have forgotten what I am today. Those who are who they are, like Omar, live in just one world, the external one. Those who aren’t who they are, like me, live not only in the external world but also in a diversified, ever-changing inner world. Try as we might, we could never have the same philosophy as Omar’s. I harbour in me, like unwanted souls, the very philosophies I criticize. Omar could reject them all, for they were all external to him, but I can’t reject them, because they’re me.' (F Pessoa)

'Mrs Glass looked over, abstractedly, at the blue bathmat, across the tiled floor. Zooey stood as still as possible, in order not to break her mood. "You can't live in the world with such strong likes and dislikes," Mrs Glass said to the bathmat, then turned again toward Zooey and gave him a long look, with very little, if any, morality in it. "Regardless of what you may think, young man," she said.' (JD Salinger)

'Art only begins where imitation ends.' (Oscar Wilde)

'"I like zooey's blog," Steiner would say, "It's the only internet site with a foyer. Saul and I often meet there, by the ethereal kiosk. The ice-cream is splendid."' (ThetisMercurio)

'What is the use of telling people repeatedly that the Society is not a sect and then behave as if it were one?' (Steiner)

'Laughter means distance. Where laughter is absent, madness begins. The moment one takes the world with complete seriousness one is potentially insane.' (Jens Bjørneboe)

'If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.' (Oscar Wilde)

'Let's act like sphinxes, however falsely, until we reach the point of no longer knowing who we are. For we are, in fact, false sphinxes, with no idea of what we are in reality. The only way to be in agreement with life is to disagree with ourselves. Absurdity is divine.' (F Pessoa)

the basics

the posts on this blog are written by alicia hamberg, with the guidance of mr dog, canineosophist, and with inspiration from rudolf steiner, anthroposophist, and the rest of our friends, people, dogs and various strange beings who hang out with us in this extraordinary ethereal kiosk

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the ninth lesson, and a few words about other things

To live up to my new (well, perhaps it isn’t exactly new) and bad reputation as some kind of weird crypto-esoteric, and also to behave in a suitably mysterious manner in general (I always aim to), I’ll recommend to you that you read Steiner’s ninth esoteric lesson for the first class, providing of course you’ve read the preceding eight, which I’ve recommended to you before. I trust, of course, that you have. Anything else would be highly neglectful. To set the scene for cosmic flights:

It would be easy to convince people about the spiritual world if for example a table from the spiritual world were to approach them. But there are no tables in the spiritual world, there are only spiritual beings in the spiritual world, and they must be perceived with what is spiritual in man. But spiritual is what we can read in the stars, what we can feel in the movements of the planets, what we can experience in the forces which hold us to the earth and make us people of the earth. Therefore whoever desires to understand in the right way must do so inwardly. With common sense we can understand all of anthroposophy, but to understand inwardly means to transfer more and more what is understood to inner life. Whoever wishes to do this must decide to undertake a really intimate exercise of these three sensations – or experiences, it doesn’t matter what we call them.

Continut to read all. I like everything about stars. And Steiner’s unintentional (or possibly intentional, who knows) humour.

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As for everything else that happens and that doesn’t happen: You have to forgive me for being a rather passive blogger lately. I still have that sense of obligation or perhaps a misplaced respect for this blog’s (albeit unintentional) tradition or perhaps we should call it its fate — that either I should blog about waldorf topics, or I should be quiet (so as not to bug you with too many ramblings that are unimportant to you — whoever you are?). So I remain silent most of the time. I think that’s seriously got to change; I’ve got to shed that awful waldorf thing and do something new. (I know I’ve said so before. I’ll keep saying it, until the intention has properly matured. And then, more and more, I’ll be doing something else. I’m sure it will be like that.) Another day, soon, I will write a few words about a book I read recently — Mulisch’s The Discovery of Heaven. It’s a book you should read too. Speaking about the blog, the book is even on topic. Sort of.

I’ve added a number of new links to my post about the wonderful Hilma af Klint exhibition. If you haven’t seen it, you should. If you can’t, you should at least read and look at pictures. Look at the links or google, there’s a lot online now. I read the other day that Gertrud Sandqvist is writing a biography about Hilma, but unfortunately I can’t remember where I saw the news. It should be an exciting read when it’s published. But mostly to swedes, I’m afraid.

Winter remains faithful to us and fights to stay around, a fight against an increasingly warm sun, but I’ve run out of enthusiasm for winter. There’s still snow on the ground, it’s still relatively cold. Not beautiful, just dreadful late winter. It should be spring now. I’m not too fond of spring (I prefer autumn) — but three months of snow and ice and cold and darkness seems enough.

Comments on the blog will remain moderated; I thought it was to be a temporary inconvenience, but I have realized it will (most likely) be for good. I thought I’d tell you the reasons, but I guess that would be tedious and unnecessary.

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6 thoughts on “the ninth lesson, and a few words about other things”

Hello, wonderful kiosk wandering wonderer. I thouht you might like this esoteric “wagging your tail like a dog exercise” I just read.

“Julius assured me that there would be no attempt in such a case to break through the mental armor in which we hold ourselves prisoner. Instead, the personal elemental being is much more committed to “soften” and “release”… To show me how this method operates, the following exercise was proposed: Center yourself in the midpoint of your heart. Then direct your attention downwards along your spine till you reach the endpoint of the coccyx. Next, galvanize the power concentrated at the base of the spine by rhythmically moving your two hands behind your back. The movement is like that of a dog wagging its tail (A). Intersperse this movement by frequently raising both your hands to grip your head and then, as if they were a comb, drawing them down the length of your spine and then up again (B). This movement spreads the impulses released by the elemental being through the entire body (C)”

I am constantly surprised at how materialistically spirituality manifests itself. Not mind, but body. Odd, as at the same time it (too often) scorns the intellectual as materialistic thinking. (But at least that’s about mind — and doesn’t require the elementals to become physical in their supposed work.)

‘But there are no tables in the spiritual world, there are only spiritual beings in the spiritual world,’ wot, no spiritual tables? Having read the rest of your post I now have trouble remembering what you were talking about, which is rather soothing.